Talk:Education/Recognition

Two questions

Two questions that stood out as essential to me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vojtěch Dostál (talk • contribs) 17 November 2014‎, 16:29 (UTC)

Thanks for these questions, Vojtěch. I've split them into two topics below -- Eligibility and Distribution -- for ease of discussion. Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 22:35, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Vojtěch, I'm really glad you're thinking about how to recognize participants in Wikipedia Education Programs at all levels. I was also wondering about recognition after attending a recent teacher training in the Philippines. The teachers were trained, but there was no official acknowledgment of it, and that would be nice for them to have for a number of reasons: for their employer's personnel files, for their own academic professional development requirements, for an additional line item to list on their CVs, and to display proudly on their refrigerators. :) I appreciate you getting this conversation going (on Facebook) and for bringing it back here to Outreach wiki. I look forward to seeing what we can create together! Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 23:22, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Eligibility

Who would be eligible for the certificates? Attending a Wikipedia workshop is different than actually leading the course. So maybe we should have a tickbox on the certificates. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vojtěch Dostál (talk • contribs) 17 November 2014‎, 16:29 (UTC)

Re: Who would be eligible... There could be different certificates for different accomplishments: as many as we need and want. For example, (a) a certificate of participation in Introduction to Wikipedia Workshop, (b) a certificate of completion of Wikipedia Editing Training, (c) a certificate of appreciation for leading a Wikipedia Introductory Workshop or a Wikipedia Editing Training. All sound awesome, and you can collect the whole set! :) Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 23:22, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Re: A tickbox on the certificate... A tickbox might be easier, but I think different certificates for different accomplishments that are then personalized for the event and the recipient may be more meaningful to the recipients and (potentially) more impressive to their academic institutions/employers than something that seems like a cookie-cutter form. Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 23:22, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

You are right... we can make several types of recognition certificates and program leaders will then be able to pick any of these. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 23:32, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Well, I can agree with both of you. For example in average we have 2 workshops per month. We have small cribs of 1st level for students on "How to edit Wikipedia", but we have nothing more for them. In fact, I can say that maybe additional trinkets can stimulate them. But in a fact, our state is too bureaucratic, so for providing WEP we need to have an agreement with them and recent times they're asking about certificates. From my practice, I can say that at least 90% of people who attend workshops on WEP are not really understand even basic things. So, it's necessary to give them certificates if they really received new skills for one workshop (it should be obligatory with practical tasks) or if it's a long-term WEP (f.e. 5-15 lessons). Universities are asking, if we can provide certificates for teachers that they can teach students. And then they will need another certificates for students that they have accomplished WEP course. --Ліонкінг (talk) 22:51, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

Distribution

How do we control who gives away these certificates? Actually if they are issued by the Global education program, you might not want them to be distributed lighty. Do we want to have some sort of on-wiki register (where anyone could sign up as the certificate distributor)?— Preceding unsigned comment added by Vojtěch Dostál (talk • contribs) 17 November 2014‎, 16:29 (UTC)

You ask good questions, as always, Vojtěch. :)

Re: Global Ed issuing the certificates... That is not a problem. Our team would be happy to help. The certificates can be signed by the Director/Senior Manager of our team, of course. I like the idea of it being issued jointly both by the Wikipedia Education Collaborative and the Global Education Program at the Wikimedia Foundation. That adds a little more weight to it, which some academics might appreciate. Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 23:22, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Re: An on-wiki request/registration form... That's a great idea! We could set up a form template like the one on this page: Education/Newsletter/Newsroom/Bullet_points. Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 23:22, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Re: How do we control who gives them away... That question is tougher to answer. Or maybe not. We can describe what certificates are available here on Outreach wiki. Then those who wish to distribute certificates would make a request via the online form. The online form auto-populates a wiki page so that everyone can see of where they are sent and why. However, one concern I have with providing an online-template (.odf, .doc. .odt, etc.) is that it could easily be reused later. Anything is possible with Photoshop. We shouldn't unnecessarily complicate the process for the volunteers or the Global Ed team, but we might want to try to avoid anyone being able to give them out for anything. Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 23:22, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Hmmm, are you thinking of establishing a process when program leader would request the certificates to be released for him/her and we would send them? Yeah, that could work too... --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 23:34, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Badges or Barnstars? :)

I *love* the badges you earn in The Wikipedia Adventure. I'm also a big fan of barnstars.

Maybe we could design some of our own. Maybe Ocaasi / Ocaasi_(WMF) and Heatherawalls would help us remix their templates. Either way, I think, in addition to the paper recognition certificates that we're working on, we should also develop wiki page badges or barnstars for Wikipedia Education Program participants at all levels. :) Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 00:37, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Heatherawalls would like a list of badges of barnstars that we want designed and a timeframe of when we'd like to have them by. With that additional information, she will tell us if she can help us or not. Thanks for helping me brainstorm that wish list here and now. :) Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 01:04, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

The list of badges that already exist covers many of the tasks that we might want to praise the mastery of -- editing, copyediting, sourcing, etc. -- so maybe we don't need to completely reinvent the wheel. Maybe we could get permission from Ocaasi / Ocaasi_(WMF) to use the badges from The Wikipedia Adventure and we ask the designer to make additional badges for tasks not covered -- illustrating, evaluating, etc. @Ocaasi: is a partnership like this this possible? :) And, to all of you, what badges are still needed? Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 01:04, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

WMF staff designer?

I am kinda hoping that we can get some of the WMF graphics designers to collaborate with me on the certificates. I want them (certificates, not the designers) to look nice - modern and minimalistic, yet visibly sort of ceremonial. Is there a chance we could get help from anyone like that? Volunteers from my chapter are usually very busy working on our graphical material .. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 23:37, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Would User:AKoval (WMF) know? :) --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 12:04, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

I spoke with one of our staff designers today; they are, predictably, very busy, too, but I showed the 'very unofficial' first draft of the certificate and was told that it looks good already and shouldn't need much more work. So if you could make that pdf into a google doc that anyone can edit, and share the link with me, we might be able to get it a little designer love in house. Thanks for asking about this, Vojtěch. Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 00:49, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

@Anna Koval (WMF) Great, thank you! :-). Give me a few days to prepare a few versions that will include the feedback I received, then I will update you. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 13:45, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

For the record, this conversation continued off wiki by email, with Heather making a 2.0 version in an editable pdf file format in February. Today I looped in Samir to help with version 3.0. Will update update the status again soon. Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 22:44, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

Newsletter barnstar

Just noting here that we've developed a education newsletter barnstar template as a means of recognizing contributions to the education newsletter. :)

	Wikimedia Education Newsletter Contributor Barnstar
	We appreciate your tireless efforts in writing for the education newsletter. Thank you for sharing your valuable experiences with the Wikimedia movement.

After seeing Sage's Signpost userbox on English Wikipedia and Siko's TPS report barnstar on Meta, and given that you can't give automated WikiLove here on Outreach wiki yet, I was expressing gratitude to newsletter contributors manually in January (see example here). :)

So Samir and I discussed creating new userboxes and barnstars to acknowledge the efforts of newsletter contributors. We worked together on a userbox template for readers and editors of the education newsletter and a barnstar for contributors to the education newsletter.

Hope this helps recognize the valuable contributions of volunteers and spreads a little more WikiLove! <3 Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 23:17, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

Timeline?

I could use such course certificates---at the moment I'm designing my own. However, for different cultural backgrounds we would need different wording. So either the wording itself if editable, or there really needs to be a wide range of templates, from very fancy to ultra-orthodox. When would some usable version be available? --Pgallert (talk) 07:16, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

Hi Pgallert, the fillable form certificates are ready to use and available on this commons category. Please check them out and let me know if you have any questions. --Selsharbaty (WMF) (talk) 20:24, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Who signs the certificates?

Adding here some ideas about who should sign these certificates. Please share your thoughts about the pros and cons of the various options and which one works best in your local context. Thank you! Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 02:56, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

Education Program Leader certificates

Options:

• Signed by the WMF's Global Education Program leader or her/his designee.

Instructor certificates

Three options:

• Signed by only the local education program leader
• Signed by both the local education program leader and local affiliate (chapter or user group) leader
• Signed by both the the local education program leader or local affiliate leader and the WMF's Global Education Program leader or her/his designee

Student certificates

Three options:

• Signed by only the local education program leader
• Signed by both the local education program leader and local affiliate (chapter or user group) leader
• Signed by both the the local education program leader or local affiliate leader and the WMF's Global Education Program leader or her/his designee

I would prefer a signature that definitely states WMF. The main attraction for the students here is recognition from outside Mexico. Although I am the affiliate (Wiki Learning User Group) leader, I am seen first as a Tec professor. Once we are system-wide, and are better recognized in Mexico, the San Fran connection wont be as important. A digital signature sent to me by email is fine.Thelmadatter (talk) 13:20, 21 April 2015 (UTC)